"I started rejecting the proper way to sing and I started singing," he told the newspaper of his teenage training as an opera singer. "I was listening to more and more rock music and wondering, 'Wow, how does that person do that with their voice?'"

"I met with [a vocal coach] over the summer and talked to him about it and the funny thing was, you know when I do those little, crazy, screamy notes? He's like, 'We don't really have a way to teach that. It kind of goes outside of our box.' Those notes that sound sort of like rock-scream, no one ever taught me to do," Adam said. "I sort of had to teach myself. You just do it. It's just a sound you make."

It's a sound fans are looking forward to with the November 23 release of his first post-"Idol" album, "For Your Entertainment," and the "Idol" runner-up said the album will be just that – entertainment.

"I want to put it out there that I don't take myself all that seriously," Adam said. "The dress-up supports that; the fantasy element supports it. People want to talk about whether I have rock cred, whether I'm selling out, the theatricality, the gay stuff. . . . Chill out! And just enjoy yourself. It's not that deep."

While he noted that the album does have some emotional tracks, such as "Soaked," a song written by Muse, and "Broken Open," a track Adam himself co-wrote, it's mostly a celebratory effort.

"Sometimes it's just, 'This is hot, I feel good, this song makes me want to go get a drink and flirt with somebody and have a good time,'" Adam said. "Good energy is just as credible as the cathartic, dark, heavy [stuff]. It's just as important!"

And the album is sure to find him being himself – something he's confident that fans will accept.

"I think the next generation coming up is a little bit more open-minded," the star said. "More accepting, more colorful, more multi-genre, multiethnic, multi-sexuality, which is more utopian. Or I think so. I hope so."